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(No Mode 1.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. B. L. WRIGHT.

OAR BRAKE Patented Mar. 19, 1889.

N. PETERS. Pholo-lim UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BER'lON L. \VRIGIIT, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF TVO- .THIRDS TO SAMUEL A. BURNS, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,029, dated March 19, 1889.

Application filed December 26, 1888. $erial No. 294,621. (Np model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, BERToN L. WRIGHT, a citizen of the Un itcd States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fail-field and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Brakes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention is especially adapted for use upon street-railway cars, and has for its object to produce mechanism which shall be simple, compact, durable, and inexpensive, and which will enable the driver, when the brake is locked, to release it by a slight backward movement of the handle and without any forward movement whatever, no manipulation of the foot-dog or rotary movement of the handle being necessary in the act of unlocking the brake. With these ends in view I have devised the novel mechanism, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, numbers being used to denote the several parts.

Figure 1 is a partial elevation of a streetrailway oar, illustrating the application of my novel mechanism, the. brake being supposed to be in the locked position, as the chain is shown as wound upon the cone; Fig. 2, a section of my novel mechanism, certain of the parts being in elevation, showing the position of the parts during the operation of locking the brake, the foot-dog being disengaged from the ratchet; Fig. 3, a similar section showing the position of the parts in the unlocked position; Fig. 4, an inverted plan view of the windingsleeve detached; Fig. 5, an inverted plan view of the ratchet detached; Fig. 6, a plan view of the cone or winding-drum detached; Fig. 7, a partial side elevation of a car-platform, illustrating a form in whiclnthe windingsleeve is placed below the platform, and slight changes are made in the details of construction, the chain being wound upon the cone, as in Fig. 1, and the foot-dog in engagement with the ratchet; Fig. 8, a central section, partially in elevation, corresponding with Fig. '7, the position of the parts corresponding with Fig.

tical section of the winding-sleeve; and Fig.

13, a section of the brake-spindle on the line 00 a: in Fig. 8, looking down.

1 denotes the brake-staff; 2, the handle; 3, the car-platform, and 4: the guard-rail through which the brake-staff is ordinarily passed or.

by which it is supported, these parts being of the ordinary or any preferred construction.

5 denotes a, base-plate rigidly secured to the front of the platform and having an opening in which the winding-drum or cone 6 is journaled. The brake-staff passes down through the winding drum, and is provided at its lower end with the usual elastic ball, '7, for the protection of a horse should it fall and the car pass over it. freely in the winding-drum, and the latter turns freely in the base-plate. At the upper end of the winding-drum is a flange, S, which rests upon the base-plate, and is provided in its upper side with openings 0, the purpose of which will presently be explained.

28 denotes the locking-chain, one end of which is attached in any suitable manner to the winding-drum, the other end (not shown) being attached to the brake-lever or other suitable operating mechanism, which, however, has nothing to do with my present invention.

1O denotes the ratchet, which is provided in its under side with a recess, 11, which just receives the flange of the winding-drum, leaving the latter free to turn within said recess.

' 12 denotes the usual foot-dog, which is adapted to engage the ratchetin the ordinary manner. Above the ratchet is a housing, 13, held in position by a collar, 11, rigidly attached to the brake-staff in any suitable mannerfor example, by a set-screw, as shown in the drawings. Within the housing is a winding-sleeve, 15, through which the brakestatf passes freely. In the under side of the winding-sleeve 1 form a recess, 21,the bot-tom The brake-staff turns of said recess consisting of inclines 1t, terminating abruptly in shoulders 17 1S denotes lugs or pins projecting from the under side of the winding-sleeve and adapted to pass through openings ltl in the ratchet and to engage openings 9 in the winding-drum.

It will be noticed in Fig. 3 thatin the raised position of the winding-sleeve that is, the unlocked position of the brakelugs 18 remain in engagement with the ratchet, but are wholly disengaged from the winding-drunn It will be seen, furthermore, from Figs. 4,, 5, and 6, that lugs l8 and openings 10 in the ratchet in which said lugs engage are at unequal distances apart, said lugs andopenings being so located that the lugs will register with openings 9 in the winding-drum at a certain position, but in that position only.

denotes a collar on the brakestaff, which is adapted to engage recess 21 in the bottom of the \vinding-sletwe, said collar being provided on its upper side with cams 26 and shoulders corres 'imlding with the inclines and shoulders in said recess. This collar is rigidly secured to the brake-staff in any suitable manner, preferably by drop-forging thereon.

22 is a spring within the housing, the upper end of which bears against the under side of the top of the housing and the lower end against the top of the winding-sleeve, its action being to keep lu l8 in engagement with the openings of the ratchet and to force them into engagement with openings .linthe winding-drum as soon. as said lugs and openings are caused to register by forward movement of the brake-staif.

It will be seen that my improved construction is such as to thorou hly protect all portions of the mechanism from mud, snow, and ice, and, furthernmre, that the action of spring 252 is to lift thehousingaway fromtheratchet, so that there will be no friction, the housing, however, being placed close to the ratchet and locked there by adjustment of collar l-t.

In all car-brakes, so far as 1 am aware, that have gone into use the driver has been required, in order to release the brake, to give the handle a violent turn forward in order to release the foot'dog and then to kick the latter out of engagement with the ratchet, let

ting go of thehandle at the same time, which llies violentlyaround. There is necessarily, therefore, considerable loss of time in releas ing the action of the brake. This has been found a serious trouble in startin with heavy loads and also in using horses which are inclined to pull irregularly, it being desirable that when the horse or horses start forward suddenly it be within the power of the driver to instantly relieve all pressure of the brake upon the wheels.

My invention operates as follows: The brake is set or locked in the usual manner-that is, by turning the handle forward and placing the foot-dog in engagement with the ratchet to lock it, it being immaterial whether the i'ootdog is held in contact with the ratchet during the operation of looking or setting the brake or not. During the operation of looking the brake the position of the parts is as in Fig. 2. Shoulders 17 in the recess in the bottom of the winding-sleeve are engaged by the corresponding shoulders upon collar 20, so that as the ln'ake-staff is turned forward the winding-sleeve is necessarily carried by the engagement of said shoulders, and the ratchet and winding sleeve are carried through the engagement of lugs 18 with openings 1!) and l). The operation of looking or setting the brake is thus seen to be precisely the same as in the ordinary brakes in use. The unlocking operation,howcwer, is entirely different. No mani iiulation of the footalog is necessary, and no rotary movement of the handle and staff. The handle is simply given a quick movement backward in use oneeighth of a turn, more or less. The effect of this movement is to cause inclines 16 in the winding-sleeve, the latter being held against rotation by the engagement of lugs 18 with the openings in the ratchet to ride up the cams upon collar 20, thus raising the whaling-sleeve and releasing the lugs from engagementwith openings 9 in the winding-sleeve. The latter, being new entirely free, is turned back violently by the tension of the locking-chain. As the special construction and arrange ment of the brake-lever and. the manner in which the brake-shoes engage the car-wheels have nothingwhatever to do with my present invention, I have not deemed it necessary to illustrate them in the drawings, but simply to 5 show the chain, the opposite end of which is of course connected to the brake-leverorother operative mechanism, and the manner in which it is wound upon the drum. When it is de sired to set or look the brake again, the handle is turned forward, as before. Spring 22, as already stated, acts to retain lugs 18 in eu gagement with openings lll in the ratchet, and just as soon as these openin are brought to register with openings .l in the windingdrum said spring will. force the lugs into engagement therewitl'i, so that the chain. will be wound upon the drum and the brake set, as before. In the forms illustrated in Figs. 7 to 13, inclusive, the housing, windingsleeve, and spring are placed under the car platform. The inclines and shoulders are formed in the bottom of the winding-sleeve, the same as before, and lugs upon thebottom of the winding-sleeve engage Openingsin the top of the wimling-drum, the same as before. The ratchet, of course, lies above the platform, andin this form i provided with a sleeve, 23, which extends down through the windingsleeve, and is provided with a lug or pin, 24-, which engages a vertical groove, 95, within the winding-sleeve. In this form collar 20 is provided with cams E26, projecting from the sides thereof, which engage the inclin es within the winding-sleevc.

27 denotes braces in which thelower end of the brake-staff is jmirnaled and upon, which the winding-drum rests. These braces are rigidly secured to the under side of the platform and support the lower end of the brakestaff in use.

It will be obvious that the details of construction illustrated in the drawings may be greatly varied without departing from the principle of my inventon.

1. The combination, with a brake-staff having cams, and a winding-drum to which the chain is connected, of a winding-sleeve on said staff, which is adapted to engage the drum and is engaged by the cams, so that when the staff is turned forward the sleeve and drum are carried thereby, and when the staff is turned backward the sleeve is raised and disengaged from the drum.

2. In a car-brake, a staff having cams, a winding-drum loose on said staff, and a windin g-sleeve having lugs to engage the windingdrum, and inclines and shoulders engaged by said cams and adapted to engage the drum, whereby when the staff is turned forward the winding-sleeve and cone are turned to set the brake, and when the staff is turned backward the winding-sleeve is raised to release the cone, substantially as described.

3. In combination, a brake-staff having earns, a winding-drum loose upon the staff to which the chain is connected and which is provided with openings in its upper side, and a winding-sleeve having inclines and shoulders engaged by the cams, and lugs adapted to engage the openings in the drum, whereby when the staff is turned forward the winding sleeve and drum are carried thereby, and when turned backward the winding-sleeve is raised, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In combination, a brake-staff having cams, substantially as shown, a winding-drum loose upon the staff to which the chain is connected, and which is provided with openings in its upper side, a ratchet having openings adapted to register therewith in one position only, a Winding-sleeve having inclines and shoulders adapted to be engaged by the cams, and lugs engaging the openings in the ratchet, and adapted to engage the openings in the 5. In combination, a brake-staff having cams, substantially as shown, a winding-drum loose upon the staff to which the chain is connected and which is provided with openings in its upper side, a ratchet having openings adapted to register therewith in one position only, a winding-sleeve having inclines. and,

shoulders adapted to be engaged by the cams, lugs engaging the openings in the ratchet and adapted to engage the openings in the drum, and a spring acting to hold said lugs in engagement with said openings, as and for the purpose set forth.

6. The combination, with a brake-staff having cams, a winding-drum loose 011 said staff and having openings 9, and a ratchet having openings 19, of a housing, substantially as shown, a winding-sleeve within said housing having inclines and shoulders adapted to be engaged by said cams, lugs engaging openings 19 and 9, and a spring bearing against the upper end of the housing and the winding-sleeve, as and for the purpose set forth.

7. A base-plate, a winding-drum journaled therein and having a flange resting thereon and provided with openings in its upper side, a ratchet having a recess in its under side to receive said flange, and openings 19, in combination with the brake-staff passing through said drum and ratchet, cams upon said staff, a winding-sleeve having lugs to engage the winding-drum, inclines and shoulders engaged by said cams, and a foot-dog adapted to engage the ratchet.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

BERTON L. WRIGHT.

Witnesses:

A. M. WoosTER- E. F. PETTIT. 

